Root's second spell starts with dominant win
Joe Root's return as England captain got off to the ideal start as his side crushed Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs in the first Test at Headingley, sealing victory inside three days despite the loss of more than half a day's play to rain. The win put the convulsions of the past eight weeks — Ben Stokes's retirement and Brendon McCullum's removal as red-ball coach — firmly behind England, according to Al Jazeera.
England added 43 runs to their overnight score to reach 409 and gain a first-innings lead of 238, before their pace attack routed the tourists. Pakistan were bowled out for 135 in 37.3 overs, with Mohammad Rizwan top scoring with 41. Josh Tongue and Ollie Robinson were the principal destroyers, finishing with match figures of 8-89 and 8-80 respectively — both Test career bests — while Jofra Archer took 3-50 in the innings.
Archer removed both openers, with Imam-ul-Haq gloving to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith in the second over. In Archer's next over, Azan Awais was caught at leg slip by Root, who had pre-emptively moved himself there — it was Root's 219th Test catch, putting him ahead of Australia's Steve Smith on the all-time list of catches by non-wicketkeepers.
Pakistan's batting woes continue
The match was effectively decided by Pakistan's first-innings collapse. After being put into bat, they were 6-2 within the first five overs, having lost Azan Awais LBW to the first ball of the series — the first time in Pakistan's history that they had lost a wicket on the first ball of a series, as noted by Dawn. Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique briefly steadied things with a 91-run partnership before Imam edged to second slip, but Pakistan's last five wickets fell for just 21 runs as they folded for 171 — the first time this decade they had failed to breach 200 in the first innings of a Test. Tongue and Robinson took all ten wickets between them.
The second innings followed a similar pattern: Pakistan were 51-2 when they lost four wickets for 25 runs to be dismissed for 135. Saud Shakeel was caught by Dan Lawrence at backward square leg off Tongue, Shan Masood made 29 from 56 balls before edging Tongue to Ben Duckett, and Salman Ali Agha was trapped lbw later in the same over. The procession continued with Ali Usman nicking Robinson, the ball ricocheting to Jamie Cox at slip, and Cox taking another catch to remove Khurram Shahzad. Archer dismissed Mohammad Abbas to finish the match at tea on Friday.
Dawn's analysis painted the result in stark terms: Pakistan have not added a hundred runs to their score after losing the fifth wicket since the start of 2025, and their bottom half has scored at most 76 in sixteen consecutive innings. Their average opening partnership of just above 23 is the worst of all Test teams barring Ireland since the start of 2024, and they have the lowest fourth-innings batting average (19.9) in the current World Test Championship cycle. The shared series in the West Indies earlier this month, Dawn said, had been made to look like a false dawn.
Robinson's record start
The match began with Ollie Robinson celebrating his recall in style, taking a wicket with the very first ball of the innings. Azan Awais reviewed his LBW decision, but the ball-tracker showed it would have hit the top of middle stump. Robinson dismissed Shan Masood soon after to leave Pakistan at 6/2 before rain interrupted play. The seamer became the fourth bowler to take a wicket on the first ball of a Test in England, joining Maurice Tate (1926), Geoff Arnold (1974) and Ryan Sidebottom (2007), as reported by NewsBytes. It was also Robinson's 500th first-class wicket, taken at an average of 21.
Robinson was later named player of the match for his overall figures of 8-80. "It's a great way to start," he said at the presentation ceremony. "That's my job, I suppose, setting the tone and to get a wicket off the first ball is a great feeling." He added that the ball was "nipping both ways" and that controlling his length and line kept him in the game. His performance, alongside Tongue's 8-89, secured England's seventh successive Test victory at Headingley — their longest sequence of wins at any home venue.
Root's approach: continuity and adaptability
Speaking before the match, Root insisted he was not planning to "rip up" the work of Stokes and McCullum, while acknowledging the scale of what had been lost. "It's a big void to fill and someone that's been ever present for the best part of 15 years," he said of Stokes. "One thing I think is really important for all of us is we don't get too stuck in the last six months and we don't get too caught up in the next six months." He would not be drawn on whether Stokes might return. "Who knows? That's a question for Ben. I just said we need to look after the here and now and that's this series."
Root said he had been in "constant contact" with incoming head coach Stephen Fleming, who will take over from interim Marcus Trescothick after the Pakistan series. He dismissed the notion of a single correct style of Test cricket: "I don't believe there is a style, one way of playing Test cricket. I think you've got to be adaptable."
After the win, Root praised his side's preparation, saying: "The clarity and the way the guys approached this week has been outstanding." He had explained his decision to field first after winning the toss by citing the overheads and top moisture his bowlers could exploit — a decision vindicated almost immediately.
England's new faces and old questions
England came into this match having lost seven and won just two of their last ten Tests, with the Ashes winter a particular low point. Root, who previously held the captaincy from 2017 to 2022, took over after Stokes retired mid-series against New Zealand and McCullum was sacked. Dan Lawrence was locked in at No. 6, effectively replacing Stokes, and Root praised his off-spin, calling him "a very underrated bowler." Harry Brook (91), Jordan Cox (73), Root himself (66) and Lawrence (51) all made fifties on Thursday, while Ali Usman took 5-95 for Pakistan — his maiden five-wicket haul.
Pakistan were also missing captain Babar Azam, ruled out of the series opener after hurting his right hand in a warm-up at Beckenham, with Salman Ali Agha leading the side for the first time. Agha said he found out about the captaincy "last minute" and admitted that "Babar's absence is unfortunate." After the defeat, he acknowledged: "England have outplayed us," adding that "in batting and bowling" Pakistan had not been consistent enough. Pakistan have now lost nine of their last ten Tests away from home and have not won a series away since 2023.
Ashes scheduling row simmers
The aftermath of the match was dominated by an off-field dispute. Ben Stokes labelled the decision not to hold a men's Ashes Test at Headingley next year "shambolic", after Root expressed disappointment that Leeds was left off the 2027 schedule. Stokes, posting a screenshot of Root's comments, wrote: "Shame is an understatement tbh. Shambolic would be more appropriate. Great win though." Headingley will host the one-off women's Ashes Test.
Stokes's comments came after a dominant performance on his County Championship return for Durham against Derbyshire, where he took 5/17 and scored an unbeaten 66 off 55 balls, ending the match with 119 runs and seven wickets. The result reignited speculation about a possible return to international cricket, though Stokes has not publicly addressed it.
Looking ahead to Lord's
The second Test of the three-match series starts at Lord's on Thursday, where Pakistan hope to have Babar Azam back from his finger injury. Agha said his side would "come back stronger," but the scale of the rebuilding task was evident in the statistics and in their performance at Headingley. For England, the immediate question is whether this emphatic start under Root marks a genuine new era or simply a rout of a side in turmoil. All eyes will be on Lord's, where Pakistan will be desperate to respond. The series, and Pakistan's ability to reverse a deeply worrying trend, begins anew on Thursday.